A downtown church is planning some of its first public events this month as its leader works to build a congregation welcoming to diverse faiths.

"I expect the congregation would be broad and multi-denominational," said the Rev. Ian Mevorach, who came to Natick in May and has spent the past few months meeting with local residents and leaders. "It’s not going to be a church that says it has the only way."

Common Street Community Church, located in the former First Baptist Church at 13 Common St., plans to hold its first of weekly informal prayer gatherings Sunday at 10:30 a.m. It plans to screen the documentary "Praying Town," which chronicles Natick’s founding as Praying Indian village, at 2:30 p.m. Oct 14.

Though affiliated with the American Baptist Church, Mevorach said leaders "have gone ahead and taken Baptist out of the name as a way of saying ‘We’re open to people of other denominations.’"

Mevorach, who has previously served at a Jamaica Plain church, said he is recruiting a development board.

He plans to hold the informal gatherings on Sundays as the church works up to its first public worship service in several months. He hopes to start a youth center that offers a safe place for youth to spend time, a need Mevorach recognized as he spoke with community members.

Mevorach said interest in the new church has grown, thanks in part to its location on the Town Common in Natick Center.

Natick resident Michelle Cromwell, who runs the nonprofit group Multicultural Village, said she saw the new church initially as an opportunity to reach out with her organization.

Mevorach "really speaks the Christian message of interdependence and relying on each other and being there for each other," said Cromwell, who is Roman Catholic but also plans to attend activities at the Common Street church. "I feel as though this is truly a community church where all are welcome."

Robert Rowe, who moved to Natick four years ago, plans to join the church with his wife and three children. Rowe said he was raised as a Congregationalist but appreciated Mevorach’s inclusive attitude and decided to join.

"It seems that the people who lived in Natick all their life have their social circles," Rowe said. "I like the fact that it is new and starting up. I’m hoping it will be a magnet for all the new families that have really flooded into Natick."

For more information, contact Mevorach at 508-655-9636 or mevorach@bu.edu.

(Brian Benson can be reached at 508-626-3964 or bbenson@wickedlocal.com.)